1. High Digitalization and Automation of Welding and Cutting Equipment

A major highlight of this welding exhibition is the high level of digitalization and automation of welding and cutting equipment. Besides stick arc welding and argon arc welding equipment, most welding and cutting equipment use NC (numerical control) systems and human-machine interfaces. Operators can freely set welding parameters or program welding procedures through the human-machine interface depending on different welding components and store the programs in the NC control system, which can hold hundreds of welding programs, achieving intelligent welding. When paired with robot or mechanical arm systems, full-range automated welding or cutting can be realized. This not only reduces labor intensity and greatly improves efficiency but also ensures stable, reliable, high-quality welds with good repeatability and reproducibility of welding processes and consistency of weld quality.

Major manufacturers are sparing no effort to attract visitors' attention. For example, ABB uses two robots to 'work' cooperatively, with each robot arm 'holding' a display screen about the size of a home TV, together forming a complete image. FANUC showcases two robots cooperating to 'weld' the lines on a basketball. As is well known, the basketball surface has many lines, and the pattern of these lines represents the shapes of various complex welds, such as saddle shapes and intersecting lines. Achieving these welds with only one welding robot is difficult, but using two robots in cooperation makes it easy. FANUC has effectively solved these challenges, and from their exhibit, it is evident that they have resolved them quite elegantly.

The coordinated movement of robots is a major highlight of this Essen Exhibition. A traditional welding robot equipped with a single rotary table has only 8 degrees of freedom. Although it can weld some complex seams on complex-shaped workpieces, with the development of small-batch and diversified products, one robot with one rotary table is no longer sufficient. Coordinated movement of two robots provides a total of 12 degrees of freedom, greatly increasing flexibility and allowing handling of various complex welds, as shown in Figure 1. If these technologies are applied to welding large structural components in the defense industry, such as vehicle bodies and turrets, they can achieve high-speed welding, reduce manufacturing costs, and significantly shorten production cycles.

2. Increased Welding Equipment Power and Equipment Miniaturization

To meet the production needs for welding some thick components, various high-power welding equipment has emerged, especially high-energy beam welding equipment such as laser and electron beam welding machines. With breakthroughs in key equipment manufacturing technologies, some high-power or ultra-high-power welding equipment has already been produced. Currently, high-power lasers can reach over 10kW and are used for welding combination gears and thick plates. The UK CVE's high-power electron beam welder can reach over 100kW, capable of fully penetrating 380mm thick stainless steel plates in a single pass, and can also be applied to electron beam freeform manufacturing and precision surface forming, providing a broader prospect for the application of high-energy beam processing technologies in manufacturing.